Soooo i have been working at the mall the past few years doing computer repair stuff. But i would like to go on my own now. Starting my own computer repair business. But i dont' know where to start. I got some business cards and post them at the local grocery store and laundry palces but that doesn't seem to get too much attention. what should i try?
nothing huge. Just a extra income. I currently work part time (10 -20 hours) at circuit city...but doesn't pay all the bills.
Try the yellow pages. The repair business is a tough one. I had my own company for 5 years until I sold it back in the 90's.Try the yellow pages. The repair business is a tough one. I had my own company for 5 years until I sold it back in the 90's. It’s rare that someone needs a “repair” for hardware; more likely they need help with software or a quick “I screwed this up and need it working NOW”. My company was 24/365. At the peak of business we services 3 cities and had about 9 guys working for us. Then came Dell, Gateway, Compaq, HP and E-machines (although he later gave us MUCH business with their crappy PS) with their cheap, cheap, cheap consumer machines. Boom, the residential and small business work dried up. So we switched to middle sized networks with multiple servers and got a Citrix license. Later we started to find niche markets, like government, schools, and subcontracting for larger companies like GE and IBM. The company is still going strong after 10 years, but I am not a part of it. Anyway, on topic, the yellow pages were the only advertising that produced results. It is not cheap and you will need to wait for the next printing but it works. Trying to compete with the Geek Squad and Worst Buy’s multi-million dollar advertising budget is an exercise in futility. Word of mouth is your only weapon. One trick we used which is in the grey area of legal (more to the black) was to fax once a month a news letter from our company to about 10,000 phone numbers. We would get about a 2% hit. Pretty good considering most advertising, except radio and TV, don’t even get close. Maybe a cheap cable ad is the way to go. A single channel may cost only a few thousand. On the cheap, try printing out some flyers and canvassing the better neighborhoods and placing them in the door or mailbox. Be careful, of the towns that require solicitors permit. My village outside Chicago will fine you buku bucks for not having a permit. Good Luck
one rule i have if i get spamed ie post,e-mail,fax, phone i wont use them unless i have nothing else. so spaming is not the way
Know your market. Who would want you to fix their PC, what would they want you to fix, and how much are they prepared to pay? Do they need you to fix their stuff in the first place? Let's face it, anyone who can build a PC can fix a PC. You won't find a market with Geeks Like Us. That leaves you the total computer n00bs. They will buy their PC at places like PC World, which has its own warranty and repair scam scheme going on. They are not going to hire some guy who they don't know will do what to their machine. Then there are students: not necessarily computer savvy, but too poor to afford a new system. There is your market. What they will want you to do though, is not fix hardware. Let's face it, most of the time it's unfixable and more a matter of replacing it, and no-one is going to pay you big money just to see you pop the case and slot in a new network card. What they will want is for you to save their thesis that after months of work has just gone down in flames with the HDD, or unscrew their screwed up Windows install (be prepared to know your data recovery and Windows repair/re-install rituals). What they want it someone to get their PC up and running again ASAP, when it crashes just at the time that their assignments are due. So advertise at Universities and Colleges, and make sure you can offer the skills they need. Now to your big competitor. Every Uni/College will have an IT department and a computer shop often offering just these services, so you have to offer something they don't. Research the competition. You'll find that they largely don't offer any local support it in the weekends or wee hours of the morning. And, as we all know, your PC is most likely to fail at 3.00am the night your assignment is due six hours later. That's where you can cash in. But you'll have to be prepared to be on-call literally 24 hours a day, and work odd hours.
nexxo, you sir, have hit the nail on the head. I know so many people who would have killed for that service... your right pc repair, isnt going to happen. data recovery.. that at times can be priceless.
24 Hours a day is a gimmick that is a pain in the A$$. I did it for 5+ years and NEVER sent out a tech at night. I got many call at night but never for anything that could not be fixed over the phone or the next day. By the way, I charged for phone support. We did support for KU in Lawrence. Rarely did we get support calls that the students would be willing to pay for. The best work came from the fraternities and sororities. We had an agreement with the local house to install and support their networks. Forget students, they just don’t have the money to hire a “pro”. My company was in the middle of at least 5 large schools and 2 Universities (35,000+ students). We advertised in the school papers, radio and yellow pages. When the students called, we gave them a discount of $35.00/hr and even that was too rich for their blood. Data recovery is a great idea, but you may be waiting a while for the calls. You become a pizza coupon meaning you will be called when someone needs your service in an emergency. You want steady work like at an office. You would be surprised how few offices have an IT staff. Most small to medium business can’t afford an IT person. By the way, after ten years in the biz (I still keep tabs on the it), I can tell you that most consumers and offices buy branded computers. Hardware is a very small part of the business at this point. Most of the vendors I used to use are out of business or having real trouble staying in business. Heck, look at Ingram or Tech Data, both are struggling. Anyway, find a few small businesses and introduce yourself, I bet they would be willing to give you a try. Great customer service goes a long way. Promise them 1 hour response time and they will be your customer for life.
